


When It All Falls Down

by deandratb



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Gaza arc AU, Mistaken for Being in a Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 15:01:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16120949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deandratb/pseuds/deandratb
Summary: Almost losing Donna to a car bomb forces Josh to face his feelings, and do something about them.





	When It All Falls Down

**Author's Note:**

> For [aampharros](https://aampharros.tumblr.com/). Fic prompt: **first kiss + everybody knows/mistaken for couple**

Josh tried to argue with Colin ‘impossibly handsome and well-traveled photographer’ Ayres about his feelings for Donna, but he knew he wasn’t very convincing.

He had dropped everything to be there, after all. He arrived sleepless and disheveled and panicked, because he hadn’t been able to relax or take a deep breath since the news hit the White House.

Intellectually, Josh recognized this was not typical behavior for a boss towards his secretary. He knew that nobody else in the West Wing would have done what he did–just like he knew none of them were surprised that he had.

By the time he landed in Germany he had been forced to faced reality: he couldn’t bear the thought of losing her, because he cared about her way more than was professionally appropriate.

Josh sat by Donna’s bedside, where she was bruised and broken and unconscious, and he thought about all the years that had led them there. The almosts. The moments when they looked at each and didn’t say a word.

He finally thought he had it all figured out.

Then he turned his back for a second, and she was kissing an Irishman.

It didn’t help that the guy seemed decent. Smart, talented, concerned about Donna even though they had only just met. Mostly that made it worse. Josh lost his nerve.

But when she vanished from her hospital bed, the ground fell out from under him for the second time. And when she was terrified and trying to hold back tears, it was him she asked for.

That meant something, didn’t it? It had to.

So when she woke back up–with a beautifully undamaged brain–it didn’t matter that he was her boss, or that Colin was downstairs with her mom. He was too relieved to have her back in the world, where she belonged. With him.

“You’re still here,” Donna said, her slightly unfocused eyes tracing his face. As she woke she had whispered his name, Josh remembered, stunned. He was the first thought she’d had. How about that.

If something happened to him tomorrow, she would be his first thought too.

“I’m still here,” he agreed, unable to keep the weary gratitude out of his voice as he leaned over her. 

She was dazed after the surgery, covered in cuts, pale from blood loss…and the most beautiful thing Josh had ever seen.

He could be achingly careful, leaning down slowly and gently so he wouldn’t press into her, but he couldn’t stop himself from kissing her. The lightest brush of his mouth on hers, watching her eyelashes flutter down in response. Feeling her lips curve against his.

It was worth it, even though a new nurse came in and admonished him. “There’ll be plenty of time to kiss your girlfriend later. She needs her rest.”

Josh leaned back a little, but he rested a hand against her arm. It was silly when she was right there, but he needed the connection. He needed to hold on.

Donna smiled at him, her gaze shifting between his face and where his hand was resting, and Josh didn’t bother correcting the woman at her bedside.

He was never letting go again.

**Author's Note:**

> Title borrowed from "When It All Falls Down" by Dig the Kid.


End file.
